The present invention relates generally to a secure payment facilitator and clearinghouse benefiting or useful to, amongst others, online shoppers, online merchants, and banks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method whereby online transactions may be completed in a secure manner without the need of a credit card and without having to share or divulge confidential or sensitive financial information to third parties.
Credit cards are generally the leading payment method for consumer purchases in the United States, both on- and off-line. From its very beginnings, internet commerce has been highly dependent upon U.S.-issued credit cards. The credit card infrastructure provided an established customer base large enough to feed e-commerce's exponential growth. As e-commerce expands into other markets, however, certain shoppers need alternative payment instruments. The various limits imposed by online commerce's dependence upon credit cards have now begun to restrict expansion of e-commerce—especially, for example, overseas.
The currently-available methods of online payment pose various problems to the consuming public. For instance, online transactions using credit card account information place the consumer at risk of identity theft or other unauthorized use of the account information. Furthermore, the consumer must share such confidential financial information with a third party, which likely maintains that information for various future unspecified uses. Also, many credit and debit cards are not accepted for use outside the country of issuance, particularly for online transactions.
There remains a need in the art, therefore, for an improved payment system and clearinghouse of internet transactions.